Manipur: 23 MLAs pledge to protect territorial integrity of state, sign resolution

Twenty three MLAs in the ruling BJP-led government of Manipur have pledged to protect the territorial integrity of the strife-torn state for which they have even signed a resolution.

The MLAs which also includes speaker Th Satyabrata, ministers Y Khemchand and Th Bishwajit Singh resolved to soon proceed to Delhi to persuade the central leadership to bring a solution to the present crisis at the earliest.
Interestingly, Chief Minister N Biren Singh was not among the signatories.

Following a meeting on Monday night at the Chief Minister's secretariat with members of the newly formed civil society organization Youth of Manipur, the signatories stated that the Kuki Zo community's demand for a separate administration was unacceptable to them.

Also read : Manipur: Looted arms and ammunition, explosives recovered by security forces during search operations

"It is unanimously resolved by all the undersigned members of the legislative assembly that we would stand for the territorial integrity of the state of Manipur and no form of separate administration will be agreed to by us," the resolution read.

Thousands of "Youth of Manipur" members marched on Monday night to meet the Chief Minister at his bungalow, but security forces only let some of them through the barricades.

The members of the YOM demanded that the ten Kuki MLAs who had requested a separate administration for the community in Manipur be prosecuted during their meeting with the Chief Minister.

They also demanded the state's participation in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise and the holding of a special assembly session to discuss the issue.

Since a "Tribal Solidarity March" was organized in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, the ethnic clashes in Manipur on May 3 resulted in the deaths of more than 160 people and the injuries of several hundred more.